Federal Government is renewing the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy.  Please speak for Cats by June 30, 4pm.  https://haveyoursay.agriculture.gov.au/australian-animal-welfare-strategy-aaws Please fill in the survey, or submit a form.

Please ask for a 'One Welfare' approach 'which emphasizes the interconnectedness of animal welfare, human well-being, and environmental health.'  For wellness of all animals, including human, and the environment. Such as Community Cat Programs which save cats, wildlife, human lives, and bring communities together

No 'feral' cats enter Australian pounds.  It is essential for Australian Governments to start categorizing cats correctly, Domestic urban cats are not 'feral': https://petwelfare.org.au/2023/07/17/australian-pet-welfare-foundation-position-statement-on-cat-definitions/

Ask for funding for high-volume desexing clinics.  Funding and support for cat-rescue groups, shelters, and vets.

Companion animals are essential workers, giving emotional support, reducing stress, enhancing the quality of life.  Research shows that pet ownership can lead to lower blood pressure, decreased loneliness, and improved mental health. Human-Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) found that 74% of pet owners reported mental health improvements from pet ownership (HABRI, 2020). Therapy animals facilitate recovery and improve patient outcomes (Chandler, 2012).  Recognise therapy cats, and the bond between animals and humans. 

Farmers' working-dogs, and poison baits, are tax-deductible.  Working-cats work just as hard and kill rats, keep the machinery working, and need recognition and tax-deductions too.  Free rural desexing vans for farmers. 

Farmers stated that cats are the preferred method of rodent control, and were preferred over rodent poison because of factors such as cost, baiting's impact on wildlife, and its threat to pets and children.  Of note, they mentioned that baits are tax deductible but currently cats are not.  All farmers viewed the cats as working animals and stated they are a necessity on the farm, with one farmer stating that his cats did more work than his working dogs (which are tax deductible).... Most farmers have some sort of bond with some of the cats and these cats have names, they talk to them, they pet them.  (Crawford, Rand, Forge,Rohlf, Scotney, Bennett. A One Welfare Approach to Rural Cat Management: Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Farmers Managing Multiple Farm Cats. Unpublished data 2024)

Ban 1080's torturous agonising poisoning of cats and native animals.  Ban the Felixer which cannot tell the difference between a pet cat, a feral cat, a dingo pup, a wombat, a Tassie devil, and more native animals.

Stakeholders which profit from euthanasia, pound contracts and killing, need to be balanced by listening to neighbourhood cat-and-kitten rescuers, carers, shelter-workers, and vets.

Knox AdvoCats submission: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Eq2tvWjt0eNFKrvRpw6bgDfMSwvTWIYhpfjfhsAouFM/edit?usp=sharing  https://www.academia.edu/121521243/Knox_AdvoCats_to_Renewing_the_Australian_Animal_Welfare_Strategy_2024 

We need more submissions in your own names and experience.

Links to add to answers:

Community Cat Programs work to save both cats and wildlife, and at much lower cost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQbK3R36Xjg  https://petwelfare.org.au/2022/08/31/australian-pet-welfare-foundation-position-statement-on-cat-containment/  

24-hr cat curfews have failed in Casey and Yarra Ranges: https://petwelfare.org.au/2022/09/02/key-issues-to-consider-related-to-mandated-24-7-cat-containment/  

Way to prevent killing and lower pound intake. The Conversation: ‘Australian shelters and pounds kill 50,000 mostly healthy cats and kittens in a year. There’s a way to prevent this pointless killing’: https://theconversation.com/australian-shelters-and-pounds-kill-50-000-mostly-healthy-cats-and-kittens-in-a-year-theres-a-way-to-prevent-this-pointless-killing-201947   Full scientific article in Animals: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/11/1771 

Australian Community Cat Program. September 2023 Report: https://petwelfare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Aust-Community-Cat-Program-EOFY-2023-Report.pdf

Banyule's Impacts of a Local Government Funded Free Cat Sterilization Program for Owned and Semi-owned Cats: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/14/11/1615

Sorry about this late notice, I found out very late.  

Thank you to anyone who can fill-in to save Australian cats' lives.